Italy seeks business ties with nation

Italian Ambassador Andrea Perugini talked to Viet Nam News on Italy’s National Day.

Italian Ambassador to Viet Nam Andrea Perugini
Has the past year been successful for trade, cultural and diplomatic relations between Italy and Viet Nam?

This year Italy’s national day falls between two major events in our bilateral relationship: first, the unprecedented visit to Viet Nam by Minister of Economic Development Claudio Scajola in November last year, who was accompanied by over 170 companies and 200 Italian businessmen seeking trade and investment opportunities both in Ha Noi and HCM City; and second, the forthcoming State visit to Italy by President Nguyen Minh Triet in mid December, who will likewise be joined by a significant number of "economic" ministers and relevant Vietnamese enterprises wishing to further strengthen ties with Italian counterparts. President Triet’s visit is also unprecedented, in 36 years of diplomatic relations between our two countries. I am confident this event will greatly increase awareness and perception in the Italian media and business community about today’s Viet Nam, its development, its increasing role in the region and in the world and its appeal as a tourist destination. I believe that Viet Nam’s growth offers ever increasing opportunities for Italian businesses. It also offers new prospects for cultural and educational exchanges between our two countries.

Thanks to closer diplomatic relations, many results were achieved: for the first time an Italian Chamber of Commerce was set up in Viet Nam, uniting all major Italian businesses and investments in the country; new agreements were signed between the Italian Trade Commission and the Foreign Investment Agency and between the Italian Foreign Equity Investment Company SIMEST and the State Capital Investment Co-operation; new investments were announced, totalling US$35 million, on top of the 2nd phase of the $4.26 million Italian funded SME support project through Unido, and the inauguration of the second representative office of an Italian bank in Viet Nam, Intesa Sanpaolo, alongside the Unicredit office.

Italy is still struggling to increase its investments and its economic and commercial foothold in Viet Nam and more can and should be done to upgrade our presence in a wide range of fields, starting from infrastructure, energy and climate change, where Italian companies, including SME, have a lot to offer in terms of new technologies, know how and innovation. Moreover, Italian regions (the equivalent of Vietnamese provinces) are increasingly aware and active in seeking ties with Viet Nam, especially on the business side, also as a result of an increase in interest sparked by Minister Scajola’s visit. Finally, I expect that in the next few weeks we shall be able to come to an agreement with Viet Nam about health and sanitation, SMEs development support, and renewable energy and climate change as joint priority areas for future Italian ODA projects in this country